AS we celebrate the country's National Day, let's take a look at the country's achievements in the recent past. The government has spent more than SR70 billion for expansion projects of the Two Holy Mosques in Makkah and Madina, the total area of the Grand Mosque in Makkah being increased from 152,000 square meters to 356,000 square meters. Some SR4 billion has also been spent for the huge project at the Jamrat zone. After the latest expansion, the area of the Prophet's Mosque is now 82,000 square meters with 235,000 square meters in areas surrounding the mosque. The Kingdom's educational sector is rapidly expanding. Today there are 19 major universities with a growing number of private schools and colleges, along with more than 20,000 primary and secondary schools imparting education to over five million students, almost half of them girls. Industrial growth is not lagging behind. Some SR296.5 billion was invested in the country's 3,906 factories by 2006. The Kingdom has 14 industrial cities spread over an area of about 90 million square meters with 1,800 factories, 152,000 workers and an invested capital of over SR60 billion. The Kingdom exported SR87.5 billion worth of non-petroleum industrial products to more than 130 countries in 2007. There have also been dramatic developments in health care. Over 250 new primary health care centers and eight hospitals with 1,900 beds are being constructed and will add to the 386 hospitals with 54,724 beds already existing in the Kingdom. In agriculture, the cultivated area in 2007 amounted to 602,653 hectares producing about 2.617 million tons of fresh vegetables, 469,000 tons of potatoes, 216,000 tons of muskmelons, 385,000 tons of watermelons and 242,000 tons of cucumbers. The government has spent SR62 million on saline water conversion projects, and in 2007, more than 1,066 million cubic meters of desalinated water was produced. By the end of last year there was a network of 178,000 kms of roads covering all parts of the Kingdom. The new roads include Riyadh-Taif Road (750 km), Makkah-Madina Road (421 km), Jeddah-Makkah Road (60 km), Madina-Tabuk Road (680 km) and Qassim-Hail Road (305 km). The Kingdom's ports handled 141 million tons of cargo excluding crude oil in 2007. Exports amounted to 83.5 million tons while imports were about 57.5 million tons. The government also spent about SR38 billion to develop eight ports that include 184 quays capable of receiving the largest ships in the world. __
